Elena (12A)

Cool surface: Nadezhda Markina and Andrey Smirnov in 'Elena'

Andrey Zvyagintsev's drama of bad blood unfolds with such outward calm and deftness that we are not prepared for its quietly horrifying denouement.

Elena (Nadezhda Markina) is a heavy-set, middle-aged woman who shares a well-appointed Moscow apartment with her businessman husband, Vladimir (Andrey Smirnov). Once his nurse, Elena was upgraded to wife a few years back. Both have children from previous marriages: Elena has a shiftless son with a family he can't support, while Vladimir has a daughter (Elena Lyadova) whose cool front may hide something more complicated.

The plot hinges on Elena's anxiety about her teenage grandson, destined for army conscription unless he can afford a place at college. But Vladimir wants nothing to do with her family problems: why should he pay for a stranger's education?

A crisis will force the issue, though the steady pacing tricks us into making false assumptions. What we thought we were watching was a portrayal of domestic drudgery and late middle-age angst, whereas the drama has sinister, far-reaching implications. Zvyagintsev, who also made the magnificent The Return (2003), is proving himself a major talent.